Cryolithic writes: A young Australian undergrad has found some of the missing mass. From TFA:"A Monash student has made a breakthrough in the field of astrophysics, discovering what has until now been described as the Universe’s ‘missing mass’."Link to Original Source

Cryolithic writes: The largest cache of dinosaur bones ever found has been unearthed in Alberta. From the article: "Scientists in Alberta have discovered the largest dinosaur bonebed ever documented – along with evidence of massive carnage – near Hilda, 50 km north of Medicine Hat"Link to Original Source

"Star Wars fanboys, prepare to wet your pants. This is one serious piece of kit. A complete mobile entertainment system in the form of an R2D2 robot, this baby will play radio, CD, MP3, WMA and most other music formats, project DVDs, games and photos onto your wall or ceiling and move around the floor whilst doing so..."

Soot from the factories of Asia is changing weather across the Pacific Ocean and causing storms like the December howler that clobbered Vancouver's Stanley Park, a new study says.

"The intensified Pacific storm track is climatically significant," and is the first time climate scientists have been able to measure the effect of "aerosols" — minute airborne particles — on climate, the team writes.

Cryolithic writes: Astronomer discovers the most distant stars ever seen

From the Vancouver Sun
A University of B.C. astronomer has discovered the farthest cluster of stars ever seen by a human eye — a find he hopes will reveal secrets about the formation of the universe.

Two months ago, Harvey Richer and Jason Kalirai, a former PhD student who now works for the University of California, Santa Cruz, used NASA's Hubble telescope to see a cluster of stars one billion light-years from Earth. A light-year is roughly the equivalent of nine trillion kilometres.

They will present their discovery today at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle.

Cryolithic writes: The Homemade Wireless Wii Sensor Bar!
From the site:
From the moment I picked up my Nintendo Wii last Sunday morning, I've been very curious about the design and functionality of the Wiimote and its sensor bar. Of course, I'm not the only one. Through a few links on sites like digg, it has come to other people's attention that the Wii sensor bar both only consists of IR LEDs and also sends no signal between the Wii and the bar... only power.
http://doctabu.livejournal.com/64758.html

It's Official! Neverwinter Nights 2 has gone Gold which for those of you not familar with the term means that Obsidian has given Atari a gold master disc from which to make copies. Community Manager, Brandon Smith, has sent out a press release on the details:

Neverwinter Nights(TM) 2 GOES GOLD

-Highly-Anticipated Sequel Set to Ship October 31 in North America, November 3 in Europe -

NEW YORK, October 17, 2006 — Atari, Inc (Nasdaq: ATAR) and Obsidian Entertainment today announced that the highly-anticipated Neverwinter Nights(TM) 2 has gone gold and is on schedule to ship to stores nationwide on October 31 in North America and on November 3 in Europe. Neverwinter Nights 2, the sequel to BioWare Corp.'s best-selling and genre-defining role-playing game, is set in the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® Forgotten Realms® universe created by Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS), and will transport players back to the embattled city of Neverwinter. DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is under license from the Hasbro Properties Group, the intellectual property development arm of Hasbro. Neverwinter Nights 2 will be released for the Windows platform.

Developed by Obsidian Entertainment, Neverwinter Nights 2 features a new, extensive single-player game with deep character development and a powerful new toolset that provides players with unprecedented ability to create their own universes, quests and storylines

"Neverwinter Nights 2 has been an incredible game to produce, as we have aimed from the beginning to develop an immersive gaming experience that will satisfy both the RPG and modding communities," said Feargus Urquhart, Obsidian Entertainment's CEO. "Now that Neverwinter Nights 2 has gone gold, we are proud to say we are delivering a game that should exceed fans' expectations."

The Neverwinter Nights franchise has sold more than two million copies worldwide, is translated into 10 languages, sold in more than 40 countries and features one of the largest and most active fan communities in all of gaming. To date, fans of the franchise, which includes Neverwinter Nights, Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide(TM) and Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark(TM), have created nearly 4,000 modifications to the original game using the original, award-winning Aurora Toolset. A more robust toolset will be included with the release of Neverwinter Nights 2.

More information about Neverwinter Nights 2 can be found at www.nwn2.com, which includes user forums, project news, development updates and more.

Cryolithic writes: I stumbled across this page via the Arstechnica forums.
http://bhandler.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!70F64BC91 0C9F7F3!1231.entry
Ultimate List of Free Windows Software from Microsoft
Microsoft has over 150 FREE Windows & Office Programs available for download — finding them all is extremely difficult. Until now, thanks to the Road to Know Where!